Apparatus and method for handling dough pieces

ABSTRACT

An apparatus and a method for dough handling includes a first conveyor for receiving dough and having a first discharge end for discharging dough. A second conveyor receives dough and is positioned along side the first conveyor to convey in the direction of the first conveyor. The second conveyor has a second discharge end that is spaced-apart from the first discharge end. The first and second conveyors can be used to separate dough pieces from an elongated dough product such as a roll and/or phase individual dough pieces to provide them in succession for packaging or further processing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to continuous dough processing lines. Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and a methodfor separating and repositioning dough pieces prepared by the continuousdough processing line.

Automated dough processing lines for forming a continuous dough stripthat is prepared into individual dough pieces are well known. A typicaldough processing line includes a dough mixer for mixing together primaryelements of the dough such as flour, water, sugar and the like. Asheeter receives the mixed dough which is then conveyed to a series ofrollers. The rollers roll the dough into a web of dough having generallyuniform thickness. Folders, lappers, and other rollers are typicallyused to further process the sheet of dough to obtain a continuous sheetto have selected characteristics and physical dimensions.

When rolled dough products such as cinnamon rolls, jelly rolls or thelike are made, the continuous sheet of dough is cut into rectangularportions that are separated from each other by accelerating conveyors.The rectangular dough sheets are then rolled-up with rolling-up devicessuch as a flexible chain blanket. The chain blanket is supported at oneend, being suspended over the conveyor. As the rectangular dough sheetengages the loose end of the chain blanket, the dough sheet portions arerolled-up because the chain blanket drags thereon.

Once an elongated dough product has been formed, it is typicallyseparated into individual pieces for packaging. An apparatus forinserting dough into containers is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,458,970to Reid et al. In particular, Reid et al. disclose an endless loadingconveyor having pivotal guiding spoons. A container dispenser providescontainers to the loading conveyor which includes a provision forsupporting the containers in position to receive the dough pieces fromthe spoons. With the containers in position, the spoons are tilted totransfer the dough pieces by gravity from the spoons to the containers.

There is an ongoing need for improved apparatuses and methods ofpackaging individual dough pieces. Given an elongated dough product suchas an elongated roll, there is a need to separate the elongated doughproduct into pieces and/or reposition them in succession so that theycan be deposited individually in packages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An apparatus and a method for dough handling includes a first conveyorfor receiving dough having a first discharge end for discharging dough.A second conveyor receives dough and is positioned along side the firstconveyor to convey in the direction of the first conveyor. The secondconveyor has a second discharge end that is spaced-apart from the firstdischarge end. The first and second conveyors can be used to separatedough pieces from an elongated dough product such as a roll and/or phaseindividual dough pieces to provide them in succession for packaging orfurther processing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of an apparatus constructed inaccordance with the present invention, being somewhat schematic and withparts removed.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the apparatus of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged schematic side elevational view of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged schematic top plan view of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged schematic top plan view of a second embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic view illustrating one of method of placement ofindividual dough pieces.

FIG. 7 is a schematic side elevational view of a discharge end.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate an embodiment of a dough handling machine 10 ofthe present invention. Generally, the dough handling machine 10 includesa conveyor assembly 12 having a first conveyor 14 and a second conveyor16. As illustrated, the second conveyor 16 is positioned along side thefirst conveyor 14 to convey in a direction parallel to the firstconveyor 14. The first conveyor 14 includes a discharge end 14A, whilethe second conveyor 16 has a discharge end 16A that is spaced-apart fromthe first discharge end 14A in the conveying direction. The spaced-apartdischarge ends 14A and 16A allow the conveyor assembly 12 to perform twoseparate functions. First, the spaced-apart ends 14A and 16A allowside-by-side dough products 21 to be placed on the conveyor assembly 12and "phased", wherein the dough products 21 are repositioned andgenerally follow each other in succession in a conveying direction 20Aon a third conveyor 20. In the embodiment illustrated, the thirdconveyor 20 is positioned below the discharge ends 14A and 16A toreceive the dough products 21 therefrom. Although the dough products 21are conveyed on the first conveyor 14 and the second conveyor 16 in aside-by-side relationship, the dough products 21 are phased insuccession on the third conveyor 20 because the dough products 21 aredropped from the conveyors 14 and 16 at different times. Preferably, thethird conveyor 20 has a lateral speed greater than the lateral speed ofthe first conveyor 14 and the second conveyor 16 so that dough products21B discharged from the second discharge end 16A fall between doughproducts 21A discharged from the first discharge end 14A. If desired,the third conveyor 20 can be operated at the same speed or a slowerspeed than the first conveyor 14 and the second conveyor 16.

Secondly, the spaced-apart relationship of the discharge ends 14A and16A also can be used to separate individual dough pieces from a commonelongated dough product. Referring to FIG. 4, the first conveyor 14 andthe second conveyor 16 are positioned sufficiently close enough to eachother such that elongated dough products 25 can span across and aresupported on each of the conveyors 14 and 16. The elongated doughproducts 25 can be deposited on the conveyor assembly 12 at ends 14B and16B, which can be aligned with each other. Thus, in the embodimentillustrated, the first conveyor 14 is shorter than the second conveyor16 due to the spaced-apart relationship of discharge ends 14A and 16A.The conveyor assembly 12 transports the elongated dough products 25toward the discharge ends 14A and 16A wherein conveyors 14 and 16 rotateat the same speed to have the same conveying velocities. In a preferredembodiment, each of the conveyors 14 and 16 include spaced-apartdividers 28 or other similar devices that separate the elongated doughproducts 25 from each other, which are dropped onto the conveyorassembly 12 in succession from a dough processing line 30. The conveyorassembly 12 separates the elongated dough products 25 into individualdough pieces 26 when the elongated dough products 25 reach the firstdischarge end 14A whereat a first individual dough piece 27A separatesfrom a second individual dough piece 27B and is dropped onto the thirdconveyor 20. The second individual dough piece 27B then continues totravel on the second conveyor 16 to the second discharge end 16A whereatit is dropped subsequently onto the third conveyor 20. As discussedabove, in one embodiment, the third conveyor 20 can move at a lateralspeed faster than the lateral speed of the first conveyor 14 and thesecond conveyor 16 to separate the individual dough pieces 26 from eachother in the conveying direction of the third conveyor 20.

Referring back to FIGS. 1 and 2, the dough handling machine 10 includesa support frame 40 having lower rails 41, upstanding support members 42,upper rails 44 and cross-members 46 (illustrated in FIG. 2). A motor 48drives the conveyor assembly 12 with a drive belt 50. As stated above,the first conveyor 14 and the second conveyor 16 are preferably drivenat the same lateral speed. In the embodiment illustrated, the drive belt50 drives a common drive shaft 52 that is operably coupled to the firstconveyor 14 and the second conveyor 16. Other drive devices can be used,for instance, separate motors can be provided for each of the conveyors14 and 16. The conveyors 14 and 16 rotate about guide rollers 54 and 56at the discharge ends 14A and 16A, respectively. An intermediate guideassembly 58 is provided between the common drive shaft 52 and the guiderollers 54 and 56. The conveyor assembly 12 includes a support frameindicated generally at 60. In the embodiment illustrated, the supportframe 60 includes an inclined portion 60A and a horizontal portion 60B.The inclined portion 60A allows the conveyor assembly 12 to bepositioned below an end of the dough processing line 30 (FIGS. 3 and 4)to receive the elongated dough products 25 to be separated and/or haveindividual dough pieces 21 placed in succession on the third conveyor20. Although illustrated wherein the conveyor assembly 12 and the thirdconveyor 20 are driven from the motor 48, the conveyor assembly 12 andthe third conveyor 20 can be separate, stand-alone machines.

The dough processing line 30 can produce rolled dough products such ascinnamon rolls, jelly rolls or the like. Individual dough pieces 26 canbe obtained from the elongated dough products 25. Preferably, theelongated dough products 25 are cut or sliced all the way through,scored or include other suitable perforations to allow the elongateddough products 25 to be easily separated. If desired, a suitable cuttingdevice such as a rotating blade 65 (FIGS. 3 and 4) can be locatedbetween the conveyors 14 and 16 to cut the elongated dough products 25.Other cutting devices such as a water jet could also be used.

If desired, the elongated dough products 25 can be separated prior todepositing individual dough pieces 21 on the conveyor assembly 12. Inthis manner, the conveyor assembly 12 is used only for properly placingthe individual dough pieces 21 in succession on the third conveyor 20.Referring to FIG. 3, deflectors 64 and 66 positioned at discharge ends14A and 16A can be used to further ensure proper placement of the doughpieces on the third conveyor 20. For uncooked rolled dough pieces, thedeflectors 64 and 66 help to control rotation as the dough pieces aredropped in order to retain the coiled form of the dough pieces. Forexample, too much rotation can cause the dough piece to unroll. Thedeflectors 64 and 66 are supported with a suitable structure 70, forexample, secured to the support frame 60.

FIG. 7 schematically illustrates a portion of a conveyor 71 having adischarge end 71A. The conveyor 71 is similar to the conveyors 14 and 16described above; however, the discharge end 71A includes a decliningportion 73 just before the point at which dough pieces are dropped fromthe conveyor 71. The conveyor 71 includes the spaced-apart dividers 28,which separate the elongated dough products 25 from each other. (Ofcourse, the conveyor 71 and the discharge end 71A can also be used forpreviously separated dough pieces 21.) The declining portion 73 helpslocate each of the dough pieces to be dropped from the discharge end 71Ain a predetermined position such that each dough piece can be accuratelydropped, for example, in the selected spoon 84 of the third conveyor 20.In particular, as the conveyor 71 travels across a substantiallyhorizontal portion or level portion 75 to the declining portion 73,elongated dough products 25 are separated into dough pieces 26 and eachof the dough pieces 26 rolls forward to engage one of the adjacentspaced-apart dividers 28 as illustrated. A deflector 77 is positionedadjacent the discharge end 71A so that the dough pieces 26 do not rolloff the end of the divider 28 as the conveyor 71 rotates about a guidingdevice, such as an end roller 79. The deflector 77 temporarily traps orpins each of the dough pieces 26 and ensures that each of the doughpieces 26 drop substantially straight down onto the third conveyor 20 atthe appropriate time. A large roller 81 or other similar guidingstructure can be used at the point where the conveyor 71 traverses fromthe substantially horizontal portion 75 to the declining portion 73.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the third conveyor 20 issupported from the support frame 40 on support rails 74. The thirdconveyor 20 can be driven by the motor 48 through a drive belt 76. Guidewheels 80 and 82 are supported for rotation on the support rails 74 androtate the third conveyor 20 underneath the discharge ends 14A and 16A.In a preferred embodiment, the third conveyor 20 includes tilting orpivotal spoons 84 which receive the individual dough pieces 21 and 26from the discharge ends 14A and 16A. As described in U.S. Pat. No.3,458,970 to Reid et al., which is incorporated by reference in itsentirety, the spoons 84 pivot upwardly after receiving the individualdough pieces 21 and 26 to load the dough pieces 21 and 26 intocontainers. Although illustrated wherein two conveyors 14 and 16 providedough pieces 21 and 26 to the third conveyor 20, three or more conveyorscan also be used to separate and/or provide dough pieces in successionto the third conveyor 20. FIG. 5 illustrates a conveyor assembly 88having three conveyors, wherein a conveyor 89 is positioned between theconveyors 14 and 16. The conveyor 89 has a discharge end 89Aspaced-apart from the discharge ends 14A and 16A and is driven by theshaft 52 at the same lateral speed as the conveyors 14 and 16.

FIG. 6 diagrammatically illustrates one method of placing individualdough pieces in succession on the third conveyor 20. In the methodshown, individual dough pieces 90A, 90B and 90C were obtained from asingle elongated dough product distributed by the conveyor assembly 88of FIG. 5, while individual dough pieces 92A, 92B and 92C were obtainedfrom another elongated dough product immediately following the elongateddough product for pieces 90A-90C. Although the individual dough pieces90A-92C can be dropped successively onto the third conveyor 20 where theindividual dough pieces 92A-92C are grouped together and follow thedough pieces 90A-90C, which are also grouped together, separation of theindividual dough pieces in the manner such as illustrated in FIG. 6helps ensure accurate placement of each individual dough piece on thethird conveyor 20 since all of the dough pieces from a common elongateddough product are not dropped in rapid succession.

Desired spacing of the individual dough pieces on the third conveyor 20is obtained by varying the lateral speeds of the conveyor assembly 88and the third conveyor 20 as well as the spacing between the dischargeends 14A, 16A and 89A of the conveyor assembly 88. The followingequation provides one method for calculating the distance between thedischarge ends given the desired spacing between the individual doughpieces as represented by the pitch of the spoons 84 and the lateralspeed of the conveyor assembly 88 and the third conveyor 20. ##EQU1##where L=Conveyor Extension (from a Reference Conveyor, e.g. Conveyor14);

A=Distance Between Dough Pieces on Conveyor 20 (Pitch of Spoons 84);

C=Number of Dough Pieces Obtained from an Elongated Dough Product;

V₂₀ =Lateral Speed of Conveyor 20; and

V₁₂ =Lateral Speed of Conveyor Assembly 88.

Thus, using the discharge end 14A as a reference, the distance betweenthe discharge end 14A and the discharge end 89A is obtained when Lequals 1 and C equals 3, while the distance between the discharge end14A and the discharge end 16A is calculated when L equals 2 and C equals3.

In the embodiment illustrated, the desired distance between theindividual dough pieces is equal to the pitch of the spoons 84 in orderfor the dough pieces to fall thereon. Other types of conveyors, such asa flat conveyor, can also receive the dough pieces, if desired.

Although the present invention has been described with reference topreferred embodiments, workers skilled in the art will recognize thatchanges may be made in form and detail without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for separating an elongated doughproduct into separate pieces, the method comprising the stepsof:depositing the elongated dough product onto a conveyor assemblyacross a first conveyor and a second conveyor positioned along side thefirst conveyor, the second conveyor having a discharge end spaced-apartfrom a discharge end of the first conveyor; conveying the elongateddough product on the first and second conveyors to the discharge ends;and separating a portion of dough from the elongated dough product whenthe elongated dough product reaches the discharge end of the firstconveyor.
 2. The method of claim 1 and further comprising driving thefirst conveyor and the second conveyor so as to have the same lateralspeed.
 3. The method of claim 2 and further comprising depositingseparated pieces of the elongated dough product from the first andsecond conveyors onto a third conveyor positioned below the dischargeends.
 4. The method of claim 3 and further comprising driving the thirdconveyor at a speed greater than the first and second conveyors.
 5. Themethod of claim 4 wherein the step of depositing includes depositingsuccessive dough pieces from the first conveyor between successive doughpieces from the second conveyor.
 6. A method for phasing dough piecescomprising the steps of:depositing an elongated dough product onto aconveyor assembly across a first conveyor and a second conveyorpositioned along side the first conveyor, the second conveyor having adischarge end spaced-apart from a discharge end of the first conveyor,and wherein each elongated dough product spans across the first andsecond conveyor; conveying the elongated dough product on the first andsecond conveyors to the discharge ends; separating a portion of doughfrom the elongated dough product when the elongated dough productreaches the discharge end of the first conveyor; discharging the portionof dough from the discharge end of the first conveyor onto a thirdconveyor; conveying the portion of dough from the first conveyor on thethird conveyor at a speed faster than the first and second conveyors;and discharging a second portion of dough of the elongated dough productfrom the discharge end of the second conveyor onto the third conveyor.7. The method of claim 6 and further comprising deflecting the doughportions as they are discharged from the discharge ends.
 8. The methodof claim 6 wherein the step of conveying the dough product on the firstand second conveyors is at the same lateral speed.
 9. The method ofclaim 6 and further comprising controlling rotation of the doughportions as they are discharged from the discharge ends.
 10. A methodfor phasing dough pieces comprising the steps of:depositing at leastpartially attached dough pieces onto a conveyor assembly across a firstconveyor and a second conveyor positioned along side the first conveyor,the second conveyor having a discharge end spaced-apart from a dischargeend of the first conveyor; conveying the dough pieces on the first andsecond conveyors to the discharge ends; discharging a dough piece fromthe discharge end of the first conveyor onto a third conveyor; conveyingthe dough piece from the first conveyor on the third conveyor at a speedfaster than the first and second conveyors; and discharging a doughpiece from the discharge end of the second conveyor onto the thirdconveyor.
 11. The method of claim 10 and further comprising deflectingthe dough pieces as they are discharged from the discharge ends.
 12. Themethod of claim 10 and further comprising controlling rotation of thedough pieces as they are discharged from the discharge ends.